


On the Path to Acceptance

by HolyKingWasteLand



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Acceptance, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon, Alternate Universe - Trans, Angst with a Happy Ending, Coming Out, Gen, Good big brother Tadashi Hamada, Light Angst, Not Beta Read, Panic Attacks, Trans Male Character, We Die Like Men, ace bandages, trigger warning, unsafe binding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 04:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17573858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolyKingWasteLand/pseuds/HolyKingWasteLand
Summary: Hiro struggles with coming out, Tadashi helps him along the way.





	On the Path to Acceptance

  _Tadashi grins down at his phone and his friends take notice._

_"What's up T-Man?" Fred asks hanging his head to the side. Tadashi looks over at his friends and his smile just gets that much bigger._

_"Chihiro is seriously amazing! She got Aunt Cass's broken toaster working again, and that thing's been broken for years not even I could do anything to salvage it! She's just-" He keeps rambling on about his little sister as his friends watch him with kind smiles. They all wanted to meet this mysterious Chihiro, but she wasn't allowed at the Campus yet, something about her being grounded..?_

 

* * *

 

Hiro pulls his long hair into his baseball cap Tadashi gave him, and he pulls on an over-sized t-shirt. The bandages restrict his breathing but when he looks in the mirror he sees a real boy. Tears come to his eyes and he looks down at his body, running a hand over his chest, feeling how flat it is.

"Chihiro!" Tadashi calls from the hallway, knocking on their bedroom door lightly. Hiro flinches at the name and swallows tensely. "We're gonna be late! Are you dressed?" Hiro looks at himself in the mirror and nods once before strolling out of the room with a smile.

Tadashi looks down at his little brother and looks at the cap with a smile. "Alright, come on, we'll take my bike."

 

* * *

 

_Sitting on the floor, bits and bobs scattered around him, Tadashi can be found staring down at his phone with one of the proudest smiles on his face. "Tadashi?" Wasabi questions, looking up from his own items. Tadashi puts his phone back in his pocket and picks everything up, shoving them in a box as he makes his way for the door._

_"Chihiro came first in her class! They built robots!! And hers was the best!!! We're going out for dinner, I'll see you tomorrow 'Sabi!" Tadashi calls behind him as he runs out the door excitedly._

_Wasabi scratches the side of his face softly before getting back to work. Whoever this Chihiro was, he sure wanted to meet her.. But Tadashi never showed any pictures, or gave any other info about the girl, only that she was super smart and would one day come here to work alongside them._

 

* * *

 

They're sitting in Tadashi's room on campus. Tadashi is fiddling with some invention and Hiro is fidgeting across the bench from him, looking down at.. something.

"Chihiro?" Hiro looks up at his older brother to see Tadashi's face covered in concern. "What's wrong sis?" Hiro's eyebrows turn up sadly and he shrugs. "Do you wanna go meet some of my friends?" Hiro shakes his head. Tadashi hums and walks around the bench to sit beside him. "Wanna tell your big brother what's wrong?" He teases with a smile. Hiro smiles softly but still shakes his head.

Tadashi nods and strokes his chin thoughtfully. "Okay, how about we go get some lunch then?" Hiro's face lights up and his stomach growls. Tadashi laughs softly and pushes the cap down to cover Hiro's eyes playfully. "Alright then, come on."

Hiro pulls the hat up so he can see and he rushes after his brother.

 

* * *

 

_Tadashi jumps up from where they're all sitting. He grabs his bag and is about to run to the door when GoGo grabs his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" She asks boredly, popping her gum. The others are watching with interested eyes._

_"I have to go to Chihiro's school to be there for her science fair." He says with a bright smile. "She's gonna win for sure." He says with such conviction. GoGo lets go of his arm with a raised eyebrow._

_"When are we gonna meet this 'Chihiro'?" She asks, her tone the same._

_Tadashi shrugs, "Whenever she's not grounded, and she wants to come visit."_

_GoGo takes that well with a nod and he smiles before running off. She turns back to their group with her hands on her hips. "Has anyone even seen Chihiro before?" The group all shake their heads. GoGo hums in thought before sitting back down. Honey Lemon smiles and begins talking about this new things she's trying to build._

 

* * *

 

Hiro leans against the wall of their home bathroom and tries to focus on breathing. He knows he's not supposed to use ace bandages, but he can't just buy a binder! His brother would find out, and then he'd get kicked out or he'd have to go somewhere where they'd try to fix him-

And then he was hyperventilating. 

He runs a hand through his long hair and shudders at the length, oh how he longs for it to be short like his brother's. He staggers over to the sink and splashes his face with the cold water. He takes in a shaky breath and looks at himself in the mirror.

Hips. Chest. Hair. Short. Face isn't masculine. Feminine Feminine Feminine-

He kneels down on the floor and claws at the bandages- can't breathe can't breathe can't breathe-

He tears his shirt off over his head and pulls the bandages off with shaking hands. He claws at them, trying to release himself from this hell- make it stop- stop stop sTOP STOP STOP-

"Chihiro!" He hears someone shout, and then there's hands on his shoulders that quickly move to the bandages. It takes only a moment before he takes in a large breath and hangs his head, relishing the feeling of being able to  _breathe._ He feels someone help put his hands through the sleeves of a zip up jumper, and he just lets them, too dizzy and light headed to do anything.

The jumper zips up and then he's being pulled into someone's chest, someone who smells very-

Hiro freezes. "T-Tadashi?" Comes his very soft and frightened voice.

"It's me, Chi. It's me," Tadashi says softly, petting Hiro's hair soothingly, but it does nothing to calm the small kid.

"Y-You.."

"What were you thinking? Binding with ace bandages.. You could have broken your ribs," Tadashi says softly. Hiro grabs a fist full of Tadashi's shirt and closes his eyes, begging himself not to cry. "Chihi- or... Hiro, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?" The change of his birth-name to the one he's been privately calling himself makes it that much more harder for Hiro to keep his emotions under wraps.

"I-I-"

Tadashi pulls away to look Hiro in the face. "Hey, would you prefer me to call you Hiro?" A shaky nod, Tadashi smiles brightly. "I've got a little brother," Tadashi whispers quietly between the two of them. "And he's so talented, like you would just fall in love with the little guy the moment you saw him." Hiro's eyes fill with tears and he flings himself back into Tadashi's arms, crying.

"Thank- thank you Tadashi-" Hiro sobs, burying his face in his brother's chest. Tadashi hugs him strongly, and it's all the reassurance he needs.

 

* * *

 

_Then one day.. it was all, "Hiro this" and "Hiro that", and to be honest- the group was confused as hell. But they never brought it up, at first they just assumed Hiro was like.. Chihiro's brother or something, due to the change in pronouns. But Tadashi kept talking about Hiro as if he was the same person as Chihiro, referencing past events he'd told them about, and things like that._

_The group didn't know what to make of it, but Chihiro was no longer Chihiro, and was now Hiro. So GoGo decided to ask him one day:_

_"So what's up with Chihiro and Hiro?" She asks, sitting up on the benchtop he's working at._

_"He doesn't like being called Chihiro, so it's Hiro now," Tadashi informs her with a gentle smile. It clicks in GoGo's mind (she'd thought about it before, but didn't want to assume) and she smiles slightly, nodding. Tadashi goes back to working and GoGo slides off the bench before exiting the room._

 

* * *

 

Tadashi is cutting out some paper and Hiro watches from on his brother's bed. 

"Tadashi?" Hiro asks meekly. His big brother hums to show he's listening, but continues cutting. "Do you think you could cut my hair?" Tadashi pauses and turns around to look at Hiro with a small smile.

"Sure, Hiro. You got any reference pictures?" Hiro nods and pulls up some pictures on his phone. He hands it over to Tadashi and the young adult looks through them while nodding. "These look good, let me grab my scissors," He puts the phone down and ruffles Hiro's hair softly before grabbing his scissors, brush and comb from a drawer.

Hiro sits down on Tadashi's desk chair and puts his back to him. Tadashi starts brushing his hair gently and then chops it off in chunks to start with. Then he trims it up to the length Hiro wants it.

It takes about twenty minutes, but once he's done, he shows Hiro the back with two mirrors and the boy wipes his eyes, sniffling softly.

"Awh, Hiro.." Tadashi pulls his little brother into a hug and runs a hand through his now short fluffy hair.

 

* * *

 

_Tadashi jumps around the room, trying to clean it up as fast as he can so he can go home. He doesn't really have to keep his place tidy, since it's his, but Hiro was coming over the next day and Tadashi wanted it to look nice for him._

_"Whoa, what are you doing?" Wasabi asks, watching as Tadashi cleans. Honey is also watching him in mild concern."What have you done to Tadashi Hamada? The 'Dashi I know would never willing clean." Wasabi's eyes narrow suspiciously._

_The man in question looks over at them and smiles. "Hiro is coming over tomorrow! I'm cleaning to keep up the whole 'perfect big brother' thing that I've got going." His smile grows into a mischievous grin and the other two give each other a look. Tadashi goes back to cleaning and they continue working on their project._

 

* * *

 

Hiro sits in their shared room with a thick blanket wrapped around his shoulders, he snuggles into it and flops over so he's laying down. There's a gentle knock on the door to their room and Tadashi pokes his head around the door, a bright smile on his face. He spots Hiro and he rushes over, sitting down on the bed as he holds a box in his hands.

"Hiro," Tadashi says, elbowing his brother softly. "Hey look, a parcel." Hiro opens his eyes and sits up, the blanket falls off his shoulders and he takes the box gently.

"What's in it?" Hiro asks, looking up at him questioningly. Tadashi shrugs, but the smile on his face says differently. Hiro bites his lower lip and struggles with the tape on the box, tearing at it until it finally gives and the tape snaps. Hiro grabs his reddening hand with a pout and mumbles, "ow.." Tadashi laughs and patiently waits for Hiro to continue.

The younger boy opens the box with care and gasps when he sees the skin-tone material. He throws care out of the window and pulls it out, tossing the box to the side and he jumps off of the bed, rushing into the bathroom opposite their bedroom.

A few minutes later, he comes out wearing his tank-top skin-tone binder with a giant watery smile. Tadashi smiles proudly and looks his brother up and down. "You look amazing Hiro," He compliments, and Hiro looks down at his flat chest, running his hands down it like he did the first time he bound his chest. "How does it feel?"

Hiro looks back up and struggles to find the right words. "..Like me." He says softly, and Tadashi melts. He scoops up his little brother into his arms and hugs him tight. "Thank you so much Tadashi,"

"No problem Hiro,"

 

* * *

 

The whole group gathers in Tadashi's room and waits for the two of them to arrive.

Tadashi had texted their group chat twenty minutes previous: "omw w/ Hiro, gather in the workshop asap". So here they were, waiting in Tadashi's room for him and his younger brother to arrive.

A few minutes later and the two boys enter the room, Tadashi looking confident, and the younger- the assumed Hiro- is ducking his head and staring at the floor determinedly.

"Guys, this is my little brother, Hiro." Tadashi introduces, stepping aside for them to see the boy.

Hiro glances up at the mention of his name and he smiles awkwardly. "Hiro, these are my friends: Honey Lemon-" He gestures to a young Latina woman with blonde hair and an almost full yellow outfit, the exception her white pants. She waves to him with a large smile and he waves back shakily. "Wasabi-" A larger dark-skinned man smiles softly at him and nods his head once, Hiro returns it. "Fred-" A tall lanky white guy waves his arms around boredly but waves one to the kid. "And GoGo." Another young woman, shorter than the others, with purple highlights through her jet-black hair; she pops her gum at him.

All he has to say is: he's intimidated.

"I-it's nice to meet you," His voice cracks and he tries to ignore it, smiling tensely. Tadashi rolls his eyes and pulls Hiro forward to stand in front of the group.

Fred ruffles his hair and Hiro swats at his hands playfully, Fred laughs and yields. GoGo doesn't step forward, but Hiro sees the slightest view of a smile, and he takes that as a success. Wasabi doesn't come forward either but he does smile kindly and exchange a few words- before being interrupted by a bubbly Honey Lemon.

"Oh- Tadashi wouldn't stop talking about you! It was all, 'Hiro this' and 'Hiro that'- I can't believe we finally get to meet the infamous Hiro himself!" Honey Lemon gushes and Tadashi laughs before pulling Hiro into his side and he whispers softly to him:

"Welcome to club genius, Hiro."

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr!](https://holykingwasteland.tumblr.com/)


End file.
